The Moderate Republican

Remembering Rev. King

"Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. And I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord."

-From Martin Luther King's "I've Been to the Mountain Top" Speech, given April 3, 1968 in Memphis, Tennesee. The next day, King was assassinated.

Yesterday, I preached at one of the congregations I serve at. Afterwards, we had a discussion on the sermon and we started talking about Rev. King and the civil rights movement. It was interesting, because a lot of people in that room remember seeing King on TV and could remember where they were when he died. For me and one other person in the room, who were born after King's death, MLK is history to us. I'm not saying that to degrage Dr. King's legacy, but to say that there is a generation or two of people for whom Dr. King is a history lesson and not a being that was once in the news.

One person commented about how good it was that the horrors of the past regarding race are history to those of born after all the upheavals. I have no knowledge of drinking fountains labeled "whites only." My dad tells a story of driving to the South from Michigan to see his mother. His mother would pack a meal of fried chicken for him because he couldn't stop in a restuarant because of skin color. When he was tired, he pulled over and rested until a cop told him to move along because there were no hotels for a black man in the 1950s. Today, Dad can eat wherever he wants and stay in whatever hotel he wants. We have come along way.

We still have some ways to go on racial equality. But we aren't where we were during Dr. King's time, and for that we have to thank King and all the other nameless heroes who made this country live up to its promise of all people being equal. And as schmaltzy as it sounds, we who were born after King need to keep his dream of equality alive and teach it to future generations so that we can one day judge a person by their content of their character and not by their skin.

Posted by Dennis at January 17, 2005 11:07 AM